★★★½☆
It is truly scary to see how things could deteriorate rapidly in life where one cannot do anything about it. This sense of helplessness and desolation often break the most honourable individuals down. Some result in psychotic conditions while others experience mental rage. Some fall right through the cracks into the deep black abyss and form an insidious state of mind.
One such individual is found in Taiwanese filmmaker Adam Tsui’s The Tenants Downstairs, which is based on Giddens Ko’s (of You Are the Apple of My Eye fame) controversial dark novel. The Landlord (Simon Yam) finds himself a set of keys to a block of apartments – one that also unlocks an unearthly aspect of himself.
The entire block is wired with CCTV cameras that broadcast exclusively to the Landlord ‘s room. Shot and directed with an unsettling macabre tone, it often feels like a psychological horror thriller that doesn’t scare and fright blatantly but rather chill and disgust the audience through unspeakable actions that the various tenants perform onscreen.
Viewers are often left speechless by scenes of torture and mutilations performed by Yingru (Ivy Shao), a demure and pleasant looking young lady who is always in her room without any apparent routine of activities – akin to a piece of blank paper. Yingru is donned fully in white from top to bottom in front of others appearing like a fine angelic neighbor to other tenants.
This character is so well established and portrayed by Shao to the point where viewers hurry to shun their sight off the silver screen whenever she appears – not even with the glimpses of nudity through her transparent poncho with nothing underneath when she goes on her cruel business.
Along with Yingru in residence are: A gay couple (Lee Kang-sheng and Bernard Sen Jun), a gym trainer (Kaiser Chuang) with domestic violence tendencies, a nerdy student (Hou Yan-xi) who dreams of inheriting the abilities to time travel, a vivacious office lady (Sophia Li Xing) who’s frequently active with male acquaintances, and a father (Yu An-shun) who is curbing his inner carnal desires for his adolescent daughter (Angel Ho).
Across these different misfits, the Landlord spies on them and notes down diligently their routines and habits – secretly plotting behind their backs to “unlock their dead knots in life”. This eventually unfolded across the second third of the film with some hilarious and horrifying outcomes.
Just when the audience becomes worried if the R21 film is going nowhere by simply indulging in depicting dark sides of human beings, the narrative turns with a twist of revelation to pull the rug from under viewers’ feet. Established quickly via multiple flashback edits, most of the plot twist should be well received by viewers. However, not everything sums up in the audience’s minds to form minor plot holes.
The Tenants Downstairs is a provocative yet sickly therapeutic production that challenges the current Taiwanese cinema boundaries to evoke thoughts and emotions about people and their correlation with their sanity (or lack thereof).
Also published on InCinemas.sg
cineJay 